6.  The applicant newspaper was registered in Chişinău. The second applicant was born in 1975 and lives in Chişinău.
7.  On 16 January 2004 the applicant newspaper published an article titled “Luxury in the Land of Poverty”, signed by the second applicant. The article examined the relationship between the State authorities and a private investment fund, D.H., which had been founded by and was managed by D.P., a private company. The focus was on the Government's practice of purchasing luxury cars without making any details public. It recalled two purchases of cars in 2003, including from D.H., for a total estimated value of 1,250,000 euros (EUR). Only after the press published details was the Government forced to acknowledge that this deal had taken place.
8.  The article continued by examining a more recent purchase of 42 new luxury cars from D.H. for an amount exceeding EUR 1 million. The article criticised the deal's lack of transparency, because it had not been published in the Official Gazette. It went on to describe the manner in which the cars had been distributed to the governors of 32 regions of Moldova and raised the issue whether that was a means for the Government to ensure that those governors, 31 of whom were communists as was the President of Moldova, would thereby have a better ability to spread communist propaganda in their regions ahead of the elections which were to be held a year later. The article cited the leader of a political party, who declared that rumours in the Government suggested that the price paid for each car was some EUR 7,000 more than its list price. No explanation was given by the authorities as to why luxury cars were needed if much cheaper new cars could be purchased for a fraction of the price. The article ended with an accusation of corruption at the highest State level, for which no one was going to be punished, and said that if the voters did not mete out justice at the forthcoming elections then only God's justice could be hoped for.
9.  On 23 January 2004 D.H. and D.P. brought an action for defamation against the applicants. At the same time, they asked for an injunction against the applicants' publishing any material about the leadership of D.H. and D.P. without their permission and for the sequestration of the applicant newspaper's property to an amount equal to their claim (500,000 United States dollars (USD) and 20,000,000 Moldovan lei (MDL)). The plaintiffs paid court fees of MDL 180. On the same day the Buiucani District Court ordered that the applicant newspaper's assets be frozen as requested.
10.  On 6 February 2004 the bailiff enforced the warrant by sequestrating the applicant newspaper's office equipment and freezing its bank account.
11.  The second applicant received several threatening phone calls and on 23 June 2003 she was attacked outside her house by unidentified persons and suffered a blow from a metal bar to her arm and head. The applicant newspaper and other media linked the attack with two investigations undertaken by the journalist, namely an investigation into a luxury car offered as a gift by the President of D.H. to the Minister of Internal Affairs and the article examined in the present case.
12.  In its submissions to the trial court the applicant newspaper relied on the existence of an important public interest in view of the fact that the transaction had been made with public money but had not been carried out through a public tender organised by the National Agency for Public Acquisitions, nor planned in the State Budget for 2003. In addition, both the State authorities and the plaintiffs had refused to disclose any details about the deal, which seemed even more suspicious given that D.H.'s president was a member of the Economic Council assisting the Prime Minister. The applicant newspaper relied on Article 10 of the Convention and claimed that the statements had been value judgments not susceptible of proof, or reproductions of the opinion of a well-known politician and of rumours which it had clearly identified as such and which could not be proved. It added that the plaintiffs had become “public persons” by entering into transactions with the Government and that they should thus tolerate a much higher level of criticism. It finally submitted that the damages sought were disproportionate.
13.  On 28 April 2004 the Buiucani District Court partly accepted the plaintiffs' claims. It found that the applicant newspaper had published factual statements. The court cited one fragment of a paragraph from the impugned article, which read:
“...when the communists came to power, Vladimir Voronin wanted to cut the Gordian knot of the investment fund [D.H.], founded on the basis of investment bonds, that is he was picking at it. They say that, in order for this not to happen, someone paid someone else 500,000 dollars...”.
14.  The court found that this expression did not “correspond to reality” as the applicants had not proved it. The court found that the expression had caused severe damage to the professional reputation of the plaintiffs. Considering the type and content of the publication, the court awarded the plaintiffs a total of MDL 1,350,000 (EUR 95,725) in compensation for non-pecuniary damage, to be paid jointly by both applicants, and ordered the applicant newspaper to publish an apology. Finally, the court cited Article 10 of the Convention and added that the applicants had “clearly overstepped the limits of constructive criticism tolerable in a democratic society and had distributed in bad faith factual information in which they directly, but unjustifiably, accused the plaintiffs of certain criminal deeds related to bribery”.
15.  In its appeal the applicant newspaper stated, inter alia, that the court had deliberately taken the fragment of the relevant paragraph out of context, which read as follows:
“Bad and surely ill-informed mouths in Chişinău, say that at the moment when the communists came to power, Vladimir Voronin wanted to cut the Gordian knot of the [D.H.] investment fund created on the basis of investment bonds, that is he was picking at it. They say that, in order for this not to happen, someone paid someone else 500,000 dollars. It is not known whether this is simple speculation and unfounded accusations. The reality is that today D.H. and its Skoda distributor are doing well, prosper and sell the State Chancellery enormous numbers of luxury cars, to the envy of their competitors”.
(“Gurile rele şi, cu siguranţă, prost informate din Chişinău afirmă că în momentul accederii comuniştilor la guvernare, Vladimir Voronin a vrut să „taie” nodul gordian al fondului de investiţii [D.H.], înfiinţat în baza bonurilor de investiţii, adică să-l ia la bani mărunţi. Ca acest lucru să nu se întâmple, se zice că cineva i-a plătit altcuiva 500 mii de dolari. Sunt simple speculaţii şi învinuiri nefondate – nu se ştie. Realitatea e că azi, [D.H.] şi distributorul său 'Skoda' sunt bine mersi, prosperă şi vând Cancelariei de Stat loturi uriaşe de automobile de lux, spre ciuda concurenţilor.”)
16.  The applicant newspaper emphasised that it had made very clear in the article that the statement was based on rumours which it had called ill-informed and had added that it was not known whether they were true. In addition, Article 10 protected not just “constructive criticism” but also statements that shocked or disturbed.
17.  On 22 July 2004 the Chişinău Court of Appeal upheld the judgment of the first-instance court, finding that the applicant newspaper had not proved the truth of the statement cited above. The court also rejected the applicant newspaper's request to lift the restriction on its property since that request had already been rejected and no appeal had been lodged against the relevant decision. The plaintiffs' appeal was also rejected since the amount of compensation had been appropriate.
18.  In its appeal on points of law the applicant newspaper invoked reasons similar to those adduced earlier, adding that the case concerned political expression, which enjoyed greater protection.
19.  On 14 September 2005 the Supreme Court of Justice partly quashed the lower courts' judgments. The court relied on the same extract as the lower courts. It found that the applicant newspaper had published defamatory information which it could not prove to be truthful, namely that the plaintiffs had paid a bribe and thereby committed a criminal offence. Relying on this Court's jurisprudence, the Supreme Court of Justice rejected the applicant newspaper's argument that legal persons should not be able to claim non-pecuniary damage. However, it considered excessive the amount awarded by the lower courts, finding that a restriction on freedom of expression should not be of such a degree as to put in jeopardy the economic survival of the person sanctioned. Accordingly, the court reduced the award to a total of MDL 130,000 (EUR 8,430).